Two Common Objection Scenarios Coaches Need to Master
And, once you learn these two strategies, you can apply them to all objections
In our last article about objections, and how you need to tell your prospects who you’re not, lots of you emailed and asked for some more detail on answering the two examples I outlined at the end of the piece:
This strategy can extend to other areas of the way you showcase your brand and program as you seek to overcome and remove objections from the recruiting conversation:
Have a locker room you’re not proud of? Embarrassed to show it to recruits on their visits? Don’t be. Lean into it. Explain that sure, they’re going to see newer locker rooms as the visit other campuses…but that’s not how they should pick a college or a program. It’s not about the stuff, it’s about the relationships. And in fact, if the locker room is going to be the determining factor in where they decide to compete in college, you know they’ll choose someplace else. Explain to them that you’re not a coach who wants them to choose a place just because of the ‘stuff’ that they’ll be around.
Is your college not ranked high in the U.S. News and World Report campus rankings? Matter of factly laugh it off, and give them proof that your grads are able to accomplish the same post-college goals as the kids who go to those other higher ranked colleges. Don’t shy away from it, and don’t feel bad that you don’t have that talking point that another competitor might. Define it, explain it, and overcome it.
I kind of kept the detail brief in the two examples, primarily just to give coaches a general idea about how to approach these types of objections without bogging all of your down with too much detail. Turns out, it was a little too brief.
So let’s unpack each objection a little more, and try to answer some specific questions I got after coaches read it…
What if you have an athletic facility you are embarrassed by?
Like I said in the original article, own it. Like it or not, it’s your home, and you don’t have the immediately power to change it before your next recruit visits campus.
Most importantly, get out in front of it: Don’t wait for a competitor to bring it up to your recruit, because then you’ll be in the position of having to convince the prospect that what they just heard is wrong.
You want to define it as a non-factor, as much as possible. There are some sports where it’s difficult to do that because of how facility-centric the sport is.
When possible, you’ll want to acknowledge that you’re sure there are newer facilities on other campuses but explain to them why you like the facility you have, and give them evidence that they can have individual and team success in that facility.
Make sure to tell them that choosing their college based on an athletic facility isn’t the smart way to pick your home for the next four or five years. What is the smart way?…come up with two or three decision points that would more closely align with what you have on campus, or in your program, that are strengths for you. Team culture, your individual coaching personality, the academic strength of your campus…all of those could be positives you could focus on.
Remember, with this or any objection, your prospect is probably watching and listening to how you answer it versus what the actual answer is. If you seem discouraged, down and embarrassed about it, they’ll probably take on that attitude about something like your facility as well. If, on the other hand, you treat it as no big deal, that it doesn’t bother you (even if it does), and that you have a smile on your face as you explain your answer to them, you’re probably going to find that it doesn’t end up being that big of a factor in their final decision.
What if your school doesn’t present itself very well academically?
Usually, this type of objection is based on a comparison between you and another college or university your prospect is looking at. So it’s important to remember: It’s not that they necessarily look at you as ‘bad’, it’s just that another competitor seems like they might be ‘better’. That’s an important distinction to keep in mind.
Point out that every college has strengths and weaknesses, and then outline what some of your campus’ strengths are - it’s important that you balance out their negative view about what you don’t have with examples of what you do have. Many prospects, we find, simply don’t know the positives that exist on your campus the way you do.
With this objection specifically, the goal is not to ‘beat’ the other college when it comes to something like an academic ranking. The goal should be to equalize yourself with that higher ranked competitor, and negate the advantage. Make it a non-factor.
You might shed some light on the controversial methods of how rankings are actually determined.
List, in detail, the academic path they are interested in as an incoming prospect can be achieved at your college. You can provide the same outcome and end-goal that the competitor’s school claims to provide.
Like the previous objection, how you say it matters as much as what you say in response to that objection.
One last reminder:
Objections are a necessary part of the process, and are a clear sign that they are interested in you! It’s far worse to not have objections from a prospect, so approach this whole topic with a strategy and a plan.